Food Traceability Market to Reach $19 Billion by 2022

By 2022, the food traceability market is forecasted to reach $19.7 billion globally, according to Stratistics MRC. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2% as the market was valued at $8.7 billion in 2015.

Food traceability systems collect data about the objects and their movements, cutting cost. This information can be used to forecast sales by tracking goods in inventory, and replenishing stock regularly.

The top consumer in the market is North America. However, increased opportunities in emerging economies and technical advancements means Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR.

Threat of Food Poisoning

Globalization has created an international food trade. The downside is that it also has increased the threat of bioterrorism, contagious diseases and the contamination of food products.

“According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick each year from foodborne diseases. Approximately 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die each year. This doesn’t have to be the case. Much of this can be circumvented through process regulation and standardization,” Victoria Brown, senior research analyst, IDC Retail Insights, said.

Food traceability is an important part of quality control becoming a crucial, a tool used to prevent diseases such as avian flu, foot and mouth disease, and mad cow disease, and other potentially hazardous health effects.

Growth and Challenges

Growth in the market is driven by a variety of factors including certifications and standardizations, strict government regulations, product loyalty and an increased awareness among consumers.

The market represents tremendous opportunity for vendors to invest in the research and development of secure, low-cost and unique traceability systems. Emerging economies also represent great opportunity.

The use of increasing adoption of cloud computing, quality management solutions, enterprise resource planning and warehouse management software also has contributed to market growth.

Challenges to the market include the need for dissimilar products and confidentiality issues.

Consumers are skeptical about privacy, and information can be lost to competitors or hackers. Traceability systems, therefore, must be secured properly to avoid data theft, other security issues and financial losses.

Global Food Traceability Market

In 2016, the food traceability technologies market was valued at $10.7 billion globally. By 2021, it is expected to reach $15.1 billion, growing at a CAGR of 7.1%.

The radio-frequency identification segment is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR. In 2016, it was valued at $2 billion. The market is forecasted to reach $4.3 billion in 2021, a CAGR of 16.9%.

The largest market is barcode technology. The segment was worth $7.8 billion in 2016 and is forecasted to reach $9.5 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 4.2%.